Choose You This
DayLife is full of choices. Every day
brings new challenges and decisions for you and me and
everyone around us. Every day is a new day, and every day
means we either choose to live for God, by the standards He
lays down in the Holy Bible, or we live for ourselves by our
own standards of right and wrong, as in the days when, ". .
. every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Jud
21:25). How does the Christian learn to make right choices
and live in the center of God's will every day?

by Jerry Gentry

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve
the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether
the gods which your fathers served that were on the other
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the
LORD" (Jos 24:15).

Every land has its
gods. The Arabs of the Middle East serve Allah; East Indians
serve the many gods of Hinduism; the Chinese serve a well
fed bulging Buddha and Tao; and American Indians worship the
gods of wind and fire and rocks and rain. Central Africans
worship a Voodoo of ancestors and demonism and reincarnation
and superstition.

The Caucasian Western World serves the
God of the Bible, the Christian God, or so you might think.
You can witness cathedrals and churches scattered across
lands from Armenia, cradled in the Caucasus Mountains (from
whence we derive the word "Caucasian") to Amsterdam; from
Cologne to London, from Portland to Portugal and Paris; and
from Los Angeles, California, that once blessed "city of the
Angels" to Mainstreet, Anytown, USA.

Yes, in name at least, we are a Western
World of Christianity. We once served the true God. Our
churches still stand, but does our faith? Today we might
still be called at least "the Western World of
Churchianity." Our world is full of churches in every city
and town and country village and hamlet. What went wrong?
When did our faith lose its vigor, its verve, its very salt?
How does Hollywood and football and television and all the
world's pomp and glory command our attention, while we
neglect the faith of our fathers?

"Choose you this day whom ye will
serve."

Breathtaking cathedrals and modern church
meeting halls that seat ten thousands and more still dot our
great lands. Travel not too far and you may still spot a
quaint country church in the wildwood, or even that little
brown church in the dale, with sunbeams gleaming against its
steeple and gospel hymns echoing from its wooden walls. Yes,
we are a "churched" populace of the Caucasian Western World,
with ample buildings and altars and holy places and
trappings. We can pray and sing and hear choirs and listen
to preachers; we can go to confessional, receive holy
communion, and kneel to God. But is God personally real to
us? Is He real to you, today, friend?

All across the countryside the Bible was
carried everywhere and by it we became the Western Christian
world. It was named and read as the religious book of kings
and commoners, of gentry and peasantry, of lords and ladies
and laity. No one disputes that the spread of Christianity
is as Caucasian as apple pie is American. Historic
Christianity is as Caucasian as kangaroos and koalas and
crocodiles are Australian.

But something has happened to Western
Christianity between the days of Christ and his disciples,
and today. We read in the New Testament that Christians,
though not all, lived differently from the world. A new way
of living is central to the message of the gospel. Jesus
taught: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him" (1John 2:15). He taught, "But seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these
things [the physical necessities of life] shall be
added unto you" (Matt 6:33). What does this mean? How do
these commands apply to our lives today?

We all certainly live in this world, but
we are commanded by Jesus not to love it. "Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world," he said.
What is this world we are not to love? The Bible gives us
the clear, definitive answer:

"For all that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1John
2:16). Now these are broad categories of things which every
Christian is commanded not to love&emdash;"the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,"
summed up as "the world." Lust and pride form the heart of
worldliness. Christian, this world of lust and pride may not
prevent your salvation; however, for sure, the unbridled
pursuit of lust and pride will bring chastening and just
might cause you to lose your crown in the
kingdom.

What does your flesh demand that you know
is wrong, but you cannot seem to get a handle on? Do you
worship your child or mate or buddy or boss or the
television set or your clothes or car or even your cat?
Where do you draw the line? Is it your neighbor's wife or
husband? Is it a dirty magazine or romance novel you have
sold your soul to? Is it your unbridled appetite for food or
gossip? What is the level of your personal Christianity?
What part of the world do you still love more than you love
God? If you will be honest, you must admit to such an area
you struggle with daily.

Paul spoke of such a sin in his life:
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us" (Hebr. 12:1). Be
honest and you must admit, at least to your self and God,
that you struggle with something like that, called, "the sin
which doth so easily beset us." Yes, brother and sister,
there is such a sin in your life, if you will search your
heart and not be too proud to admit it.

What have you seen today that you desire
enough to sell your soul for? Now that could be just about
anything. Is it that shiny new car you just saw on the road?
Or is it a trip for two to some far away place you saw in a
magazine travel ad? Is it new golf clubs you cannot afford
but want so bad you put them on your credit card? Is it a
football game? A boyfriend or girlfriend? Is it the guilt of
unconfessed secret personal sin that you express as blame
toward someone else? What is that piece of "the world" you
are holding onto,&emdash;"the sin which doth so easily
beset" your life? You should admit that sin to God today and
purpose by His help to make the right choice when you are
beset.

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
Since the days of Joshua long ago, Christians are commanded
to make right choices.

Do you choose to serve the gods of gain
or deception or two time love or even faithlessness.
Joshua's words of old are just another way of saying, "Love
not the world," with all its pomp and glory. Who will you
serve, Christian? Will you be "churched" while you live a
"good" but worldly life? That is what "Churchianity" is all
about. He is an unreliable soldier who marches with one foot
on high ground, the other dragging in the ditch. Will you be
a part-time Christian, first to the prayer rail for
confession; then first back to the feeding trough of the
swine's pen called worldliness?

"Ye stand this day all of you before the
LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders,
and your officers, with all the men of Israel,

"Your little ones, your wives, and thy
stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood
unto the drawer of thy water:

"That thou shouldest enter into covenant
with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy
God maketh with thee this day:

"That he may establish thee to day for a
people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as
he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

"Neither with you only do I make this
covenant and this oath;

"But with him that standeth here with us
this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is
not here with us this day:

"(For ye know how we have dwelt in the
land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye
passed by;

"And ye have seen their abominations, and
their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were
among them:)

"Lest there should be among you man, or
woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this
day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these
nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth
gall and wormwood;

"And it come to pass, when he heareth the
words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart,
saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination
of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

"The LORD will not spare him, but then
the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against
that man, and all the curses that are written in this book
shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name
from under heaven.

"And the LORD shall separate him unto
evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the
curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the
law: (Deu 29:10-21).

Let's get personal. Do you have a
pipeline of Hollywood's false gods into your home? Do you
sometimes settle down to HBO or Sin-to-the-Max or even
Turner Classics? Do you read Playboy magazine, or other
not-so-explicit romance novels to get your thrills? Do you
privately smoke, cuss, drink or chew tobacco? You could get
your news from radio, you know. And why not rekindle your
love affair with Jesus Christ, through reading the Psalms
before bed at night. "Herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he
is, so are we in this world" (1John 4:17). Christian, you
are called to a life of holiness amidst an evil world.
"Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Friend, you may
fool yourself and others sometimes, but you will never fool
God. You choose either God or the world, but not
both.

"No man can serve two masters: for either
he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God
and mammon" (Matt. 6:24). Mammon is what this world is made
of, friend. "Christian" fence straddlers may feel
uncomfortable living their disguised worldly lifestyle, but
they are not fooling God. "For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:2). If you treasure God,
you will be yielded to him and his Word, without excuses,
without blaming others for your own shortcomings. If you are
serving God, you will make yourself accountable to your
authorities even when you don't feel like it.

Are you yielded to Him as a way of life,
or do you really serve this world, through the lust of the
flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life? Lust and
pride, or God&emdash;which will it be, friend?

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
Lust and pride&emdash;or God. You make the choice, every
day, in every way.

Jesus prayed for all Christians,
including us. He said: "I pray not that thou [the
Father] shouldest take them [Christians] out of
the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil"
(John 17:15).

How are we to be kept "from the evil?" We
must, as Paul taught, strive to "lay aside every weight, and
the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us." Here the Christian
life is called a race which we are to run. Every day we make
choices. Every day we get up, spend our time in various
activities, then go to bed at night. How we live from
morning until night is how we run the race.

Brother, are you neglecting your most
important calling? Sister, are you running away from your
God-given responsibilities? Be honest. Are you ducking out
on your duties, while you think no one notices? The honest
answers to these questions tell whether you are just
"churched," or whether you are a Christian indeed. Your
calling is clear. Will you rise to the occasion, lay aside
your lust and pride, and choose to live for God every
day?

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve;
whether the gods [of lust and pride] which your
fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or
the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for
me and my house, we will serve the LORD."